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Sunday, 8 January 2017

Illegal foreign drivers: RTD crackdown begins this month

SHAH ALAM: THE Selangor Road Transport Department (RTD) will kickstart its crackdown against foreigners flouting traffic rules with a statewide operation this month.

Aimed at curtailing the problem of foreigners driving illegally in the state, the operation, codenamed Op Pewa, would see the department bringing the full brunt of the law against offenders and owners who allow their vehicles to be driven by those without valid licences.

Selangor RTD director Nazli Md Taib said the large-scale operation would continue until the situation improved.

He said the department’s intelligence unit had gathered all the information needed and would zero in on hotspots where many foreigners were suspected of operating vehicles, including lorries, illegally.

“The operation is going to start soon and we expect to haul up more foreigners flouting traffic rules than during our three-week-long operation last year.

“From information gathered, the hotspots in locations other than the four we focused on last year, namely Ijok, Cyberjaya, Jeram and Puncak Alam, have a high number of offenders, too.

“We plan to have frequent crackdowns here until the fear of being caught is ingrained among these offenders, so that they will think twice before breaking the law again.”

Nazli said he would notify the media of when the department would launch the operation.

It was reported that RTD had arrested 173 foreigners driving without licences during a special operation between Nov 28 and Dec 19 last year, of which 86 of them were found to be driving commercial vehicles, including 60 lorries.

In view of this, the department has vowed to focus its enforcement on the problem this year because the estimated number of foreigners driving illegally in the state is believed to number in the thousands.